Has any locals rented a room outside and how much is the rental? Could you share your experiences?

Rented before as a student more than 10 years back, so the prices have probably changed by now. On the other hand, I have many Indian/Filippino colleagues on work pass who rent rooms in HDB flats - these can be anywhere between 400 to 800 per room depending on location. For example, rentals in Yishun are usually closer to the 400 range. Somewhere like Kovan or Tampines would be closer to 700/800. If you are looking at condos, they would be slightly higher due to the amenities, of course. For more price ranges, you can look at AirBnB too.

Hi! I am a local and I have rented a room in Boon Lay before. The rental was $600 per month, but I cannot say if this rental is consistent throughout the whole of Singapore. It depends on the size of the room you rented, location and whether facilities such as wifi/air-conditioning/ironing services are provided. So do take note that my answer here is purely based on my experience.

The reason I rented a room is that my house has too many family members and you know, it gets kind of disruptive when I am trying to complete my assignments in the midst of siblings fighting and occasional renovation noises contributed by my neighbours. I am currently a student in NTU (year 3 if it is relevant in this case) and I was unable to seize a spot in the school dormitories. Hence I was left to source for the most affordable room I could find near my school (which is far to the extent I always tell my friends I study on an island), and this marked the start of my journey staying alone. (Don't worry, my parents are OK with me renting a room outside as I proved my independence to them by getting part-time jobs and I stopped getting allowance from them as well.)

So my experience went like this: Because I was specially looking for affordable rent, the chances of me finding a flat all to myself were pretty bleak. Hence I ended up staying with the landlady herself and her boyfriend. Yes it sounds scary because being a girl staying outside all on her own, the idea of staying with strangers and on top of that, with one of the opposite gender, could sound pretty intimidating. Thankfully, no mishaps happened and hey in fact we all lived pretty harmoniously. I am personally an introvert and even making small talk is a huge challenge to me. Basically you can imagine me sliding in and out of the house with an awkward smile every single day, hoping that a conversation would not ensue. You would have thought that my days went by monotonously but hey I enjoy my peace and quiet! It's been a good 6.5 months since I moved in. I guess my landlady and her boyfriend were thankful that I did not disturb them as well!

I am currently not staying there as it's the summer break. I am still waiting to see if I can get a spot in the school dormitories (think of all the savings I could have if I managed to stay in hall ; for contextual knowledge, I pay about $385 per month for a single room in NTU, once again this cost is dependent on which hall you get allocated to). Otherwise, I might return to that flat again.
So that's all for my experiences. If you are a fellow local looking to rent a room outside, here is a list of points to look out for:

1. Be sure to pick one that is near to the bus stop or MRT. The only downside for my rented flat is that I had to walk close to 15 minutes to the nearest MRT station. (of course if you love exercising, this wouldn't be an issue.)

2. Check the nature of your flat; are you gonna share a flat with the landlord/landlady only, landlord/landlandy+more strangers(if so,how many?), or are you gonna have the flat all to yourself? Put yourself in a comfortable situation by doing your research beforehand! (confession: I did do a background check on my landlady on various social media before)

3. See what facilities the flat itself have and whether there are amenities near your flat.